


The Model's Model

by PictoJournalist



Series: AdriNath August (my favorite month of the year) [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinath August, Established Relationship, M/M, Photography
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 08:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11710209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PictoJournalist/pseuds/PictoJournalist
Summary: For AdriNath August Day 4, ModelingAdrien wasn't supposed to take his new camera outside of the house or use it for anything other than a personal Instagram account. He doesn't follow the rules, and he finds photography inspiration in his artist boyfriend's advice and existence.





	The Model's Model

**Author's Note:**

> This one's shorter than my other AdriNath things, sorry guys! Also, I have to go back to work tomorrow, so I may not be able to post longer works for the rest of the month. Rest assured, I will actively try to post through the rest of AdriNath August!

Gabriel Agreste assumed that buying a new, high-quality camera for Adrien would be a fantastic financial investment. 

First of all, any experience Adrien could get from the technical side of the camera would be profitable from all corners. He could get some intuition on his best angles and what lighting worked. That way, he could provide input and suggestions for future photoshoots. With all the modeling he had to do, having knowledge of photography was priceless.

Second, making a personal Instagram account for Adrien was a must for modern advertising. He had already established a professional account that gave sneak peeks into recent photoshoots, but a high-quality personal account would establish a connection with a younger audience. A plain phone camera wouldn't do in the slightest, even if it was high-quality for a phone. An Instagram Only camera was a necessity. Expensive Instagram Only cameras were supposed to stay inside the house only. 

It wasn’t inside the house.

“I don’t know how to take pictures of anything,” Adrien insisted, taking a seat next to Nathaniel and looking at the camera’s digital screen. He had left the house with the hope that he would have some sort of knowledge by the end of the day of how cameras like these were supposed to function. He figured out the technical elements like the lighting and special effects, but the actual photos themselves were less than impressive to him.

Nathaniel leaned to the side to take a look at Adrien’s camera screen. After some observing, he said, “I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

Adrien looked the screen over again. “I don’t know,” he sighed, “it looks too... empty. It’s not a scene someone would want to see, you know? Kind of… it’s a little bare, there isn’t much to look at. Kind of boring.” 

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow, then turned his sketch pad toward him. He had a mostly completed sketch of the exact same scene Adrien had taken a photo of. If it had been colored in, they would have looked identical. 

“Oh, that—come on, you know that wasn’t what I meant, Nath. You have your art style and all to make it fun to look at, and you color things in differently. It’s a drawing. Those have different standards than photographs.” 

Nathaniel made a “give me” gesture, and Adrien passed the camera. He scrolled through the latest photos, all very typical photos of what any tourist in Paris would take. He loved Adrien, he really did, but he had to hold back a bit of a sigh at the Eiffel Tower photos he’d taken. They were good photos, but now he could see what Adrien was saying; he knew how to take photos, but he didn’t know how to personalize them. 

Nathaniel tapped the end of his pencil to his lips a couple times. “Here’s a thought,” he said. “You might not know what kinds of photos to take because most of the ones you’ve seen feature _you_.” 

“That’s exactly why I’m trying to find something else to take photos of,” Adrien groaned. 

“Then think about things you like. I didn’t start drawing this view of the park until I saw the tree over there.” Nathaniel pointed outward, and Adrien followed where he was looking. A normal tree to his eye, maybe a bit… taller than the rest? A tiny bit greener, too, if he thought hard enough. 

Still, Nathaniel went on. “I saw a little leaf falling off it, and the angle I sat at made it look like it was glowing in the sunlight. I liked that, and that’s what I started with.” He proved his point by gesturing to the most detailed part of his sketch pad, and now that Adrien was seeing it, he saw how the detail sprouted from one spiralling leaf and branched out to the rest of the scene. It was full of leaves of various shades and included a couple of children on opposite sides of one tree, trying to find each other. 

“Okay, I think I’m getting it,” Adrien said slowly, leaning in closer and looking at Nathaniel’s sketch pad. “So… those kids over in the corner of your picture. Correct me if I’m wrong, but are they supposed to symbolize something... like innocence or obliviousness? Like, things are normal around them, but they don’t see all the leaves falling to the ground, too—”

“Whoa, hey, that’s a few steps too far of thinking,” Nathaniel chuckled. “I mean, think of it as you want, but I just saw some kids there earlier, too, and thought it would be a cute addition. Not everything in art is deep symbolism.The point I was trying to make is, you know, if you’re having trouble finding something to take a picture of, start with something you think is pretty or nice to look at, then it’ll look good to you.”

Something pretty or nice…

Without thinking, Adrien held the camera up to Nathaniel’s face and snapped a picture. 

“You’re right, I like this one a lot,” Adrien said while he reviewed the photo and Nathaniel went bright red in the face, spluttering incredulously. Adrien’s smile all too easily boasted his pride and success. 

Nathaniel hid his face in his hands. “I—I didn’t mean like that.” 

“Anything pretty or nice counted according to your words, Nath. Pretty smooth, huh?”

“ _Adrien,_ ” Nathaniel whined, the complaint muffled when he adjusted his hands to hide his entire face. Still, he proved that he wasn’t upset but rather simply embarrassed when he tilted sideways so he could press himself to his boyfriend’s side. 

Adrien’s smirk of victory remained even as he wrapped his arm around Nathaniel’s shoulder and rubbed it. He looked back at the camera again, then held it out to Nathaniel. “Do you want to take a look? You look really sweet in it.”

Nathaniel spread his fingers out of the way of his eyes so he could look through them at the photo. He was a victim to thinking the worst of photos of himself just like anyone else, but he couldn’t actually find much that he disliked about the photo. Adrien had adjusted the lighting and focus in such a way that Nathaniel’s form looked as though it popped out from the background and there was an etheral light around him. His smile wasn’t all that bad—it was gentle and unforced, and since he had been giving Adrien some heartfelt advice just prior to the photo being taken, he looked quite a bit lovestruck. His eyes looked slightly wider than he expected, but he assumed that was probably because he was just about to react to the camera that suddenly appeared in front of his face. 

“How in the _world_ ,” Nathaniel asked, hushed, while he lowered his hands from his face. 

Adrien, unsure of what Nathaniel’s ambiguous response went, shifted. “Is it okay with you?” he asked. “I know I didn’t ask, but I won’t keep it if you don’t want me to.” 

“No, it’s fine!” he blurted out. He paused, then chuckled as he leaned back against the tree stump and further into Adrien’s half-embrace. “Really, it is. You just surprised me.” 

“Okay, good,” Adrien sighed in relief. 

Glancing back at the photo again, he smiled, but another moment brought a figurative lightbulb to brighten atop his head. 

“Hey, Nath? Would you mind if I take a few more photos? I just had an idea.” 

“What? Oh, that’s okay, sure,” Nathaniel nodded, straightening up so Adrien could stand. “Do you want me to do anything?” 

Adrien shook his head. “No, just keep sitting there. Um, if you want, you can keep going with your sketching.” 

Nathaniel smiled again. Bringing the sketch pad up to rest on his legs, he looked out at the park scenery one more time to recall where he’d left off, then went on again. He was mostly unaware of Adrien’s prescence, save the occasional shutter noises and shuffling when he would choose another place to stand, some from the front, some from the back, and many from whatever angles Adrien could experiment with. 

“So,” Nathaniel said when Adrien had sat himself on his stomach to get a shot from the ground to Nathaniel’s side, “I’m suddenly a model for a famous model, hmm? That’s new.” 

“Hey, if anything, that means I chose my first and newest model with good judgement.” Adrien snapped another picture. “You might as well start looking for someplace to get you on a modeling contract right now.” 

Nathaniel once again fell victim to blushing and curled in on himself the slightest bit. He heard the camera shutter, then Adrien exclaiming “Perfect! Best shot of the day!” 

He somehow managed to go the rest of the time without getting overly embarrassed, and he even managed to put the final touches on the sketch during that time. Adrien sighed in satisfaction when he sat down again and looked over the photos. 

“These turned out so _good_ ,” Adrien marveled between reviewing photos, grinning larger and larger with each one. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to take photos of anything else, ever.”

Nathaniel couldn’t help but laugh at the excitement radiating off of Adrien while tucking the sketch pad under his arm and looking back at the camera. All the photos shared the same special effects as the first one, and even he wasn’t aware that so many different angles of the same photo could work so well. Then again, this was Adrien. Even if he hadn’t done much with actually working with cameras before, this sort of thing would most definitely be an innate talent.

“And I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun getting my photo taken,” Nathaniel admitted.

Somehow, Adrien managed to beam even _more_ at that comment. “Really?” His voice nearly cracked with his overjoyed state. 

“I mean, I haven’t had my photo taken by other people many times besides class photos, but not _every_ photographer marvels over you while doing what you do on a normal basis, I’m pretty sure.” 

“But this is _you_ we’re talking about, Nath! How do you expect me _not_ to?”

Nathaniel didn’t verbally respond, but the way that he shook his head with some silent chuckles before kissing Adrien’s forehead left the end of the moment peaceful. On Nathaniel’s side, at least. Adrien was still radiating energy, restlessly tossing the camera between his hands. 

“Something tells me you want to take more photos?” Nathaniel guessed.

“Would you be okay with that?” Adrien answered instantaneously, jumping straight up. 

Nathaniel got up a little slower but smiled gently up at Adrien as he did. “Anything that makes you happy, Adrien.” 

Gabriel Agreste never did live to see the day that camera got used for its intended purpose. In fact, if he was asked to recall, he would say he hadn’t seen the camera at all since he’d first bought it.


End file.
